Time-calculator.



No. 629,879. Patented Aug. I, I899. L. K. STURM.

TIME CALCULATOR.

(Application filed In. so, 1399.

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

I/YDIA K. STURM, OF DULUTH, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR TO THE METROPOLL TAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

TIME-CALCULATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 629,879, dated August 1, 1899.

Application filed January 26, 1899. Serial No. 703,426. (No model) To a whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LYDIA K. STURM, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of 'Duluth, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Time-Calculators; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to devices for aiding in the rapid calculation of periods of time; and it consists in certain peculiarities of construction and arrangement, as will be fully set forth hereinafter and subsequently claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of my said device, and Fig. 2 is a like view of a portion thereof when the upper disk has been adjusted to a different date. Fig. 3 is an edge view illustrating the preferred manner of constructing the said device.

This device is especially intendedfor use in figuring the amounts of arrears and advances when payments of fixed amounts have been made at stated intervals, and the particular device shown in the present drawings is arranged for aiding in the computation of Weekly payments or the verification of accounts thereof--such, for example, as are incident to industrial-insurance policies.

Referring to the drawings, A represents a lower disk, B an upper disk, and O a pivot whereby the said disks are rendered independently revoluble. The annular portion of the lower disk A which projects beyond the circumference of the upper disk B is pro-' vided with a series of radial division'lines aa Ct at equal distances apart, and the spaces between said division-lines are appropriately numbered, there being fifty-two of said spaces in the present illustration to correspond to the number of weeks in a year, the numbers referred to running consecutively from O to 51, arranged in the inner circle of the described exposed projecting annular portion of said lower disk A, and there being an outer circle of numbers on said lower disk, running from 1 to as high a number as is deemed desirable, the series illustrated running from 1 to 15, the number 1 of the outer circle being placed in the same radial space as the number 51 of the inner circle and the outer series running in the opposite direction from the inner series of numbers, so that, for example, the number 15 of the outer circle will be in the same radial space as the nu mber 37, the verification of 55 this numbering being that the outer and inner numbers in any radial space when added together will always equal fifty-two. The inner circle on the disk A is called, for con- Venience, the circle of advances and the outer circle on said disk the circle of arrears.

The upper disk B is provided with an outer concentric series ofradial division-lines b I) Z) at equal distances apart, and which being equal in number to the described radial lines a a a are adapted to register therewith, having an equal number of radial spaces (tiftytwo in the present illustration) corresponding to the weeks in the year; but the num- 7o bers within the described circle of spaces along the edge of the disk B are taken from the calendar of the year and in the consecutive numbers of or dates of some one weekday in that particular year. For example, in the drawings the upper disk is arranged to show the monthly dates of all the Mondays in the year 1899, and for greater convenience each group representing the Mondays of each month is separated from the Monday groups of the adjacent months by inward extensions of the described radial lines Z) l), as shown at c 0, between which extended lines the name of the month appears, as shown in the drawings. Thus the radial spaces in the January group are marked, consecutively, 2 9 1623 30 and thosein the February group 6 13 20 2'7, and so on, designating (in this instance) the Mondays of each month, as stated, it being obvi- 9o ous that the monthly dates of any other Weekday may be employed, if desired, in any particular instance. I

In the use of my device in the verification of an agents account, for example, it is of 5 the greatest assistance in the saving of time: and insures absolute accuracy. In the sys-' tem of ind ustrial-insurancepolicies, to which reference has been made,itbeeomes necessary in order to verify an agents account to ob- IOO tain the amounts of all the arrears and advances on his book. This book will be made up of the records of, say, from five to eight hundred different policies, and when said book is examined at a stated time it is necessary to ascertain on each of these individual policies how much in dollars and cents the agent has collected on premiums in advance of the one due for the week when the examination is made and how much in dollars and cents there may be in arrears on his book in premiums due prior to the week for which the examination is made. The ordinary way of ascertaining this is to count up on an ordinary calendar the number of weeks each policy may be in arrears of payment or be paid in advance and multiply the result by the amount of the weekly premium. This is a slowand tedious methodand onein which an error may easily be made unless the greatest care is exercised, while by the use of my device the number of weeks may be ascertained at a glance. To illustrate this, let it be assumed that an agents book is to be examined for the week of January 2, 1899. The smaller disk B is revolved on the larger disk until the space marked 2 in the Jan uary group is in register with the character 0 on the inner circle of the larger disk A. The device is then in position to ascertain by the consecutive numbers in the inner circle of the said disk A the number of weeks for which any policy may be paid in advance, while the consecutive numbers in the outer circle will similarly show the number of weeks for which any particular policy is in arrears. The device having been adjusted as described, let it be supposed that the first policy found in the agents book is marked paid to and including February 27, 1899. The space marked 27 in the February group is instantly seen to be in line with the figure 8 in the inner annular row of numbers on the disk A, and this policy has therefore been paid eight weeks in advance. By multiplying this number by the amount of the weekly premiu1n-say ten cents, for exampleit is seen that the agent has collected eighty cents in advance and his account is debited with that amount. The next policy onthe book shows the date of the last paymentto have been November27,1S!)S,and the space marked 27 in the NOVembelgl'OUDlS at once seen to be in line with the number 5 in the outer annular row of numbers on the disk A, showing said policy to be five weeks in arrears, and by multiplying the amount of the weekly payment by five the amount of the arrearage is quickly determined without the need of counting up the weeks.

It is convenient and desirable in the manufacture of the device to attach a series of the smaller disks B, one above the other, to the pivot 0, these disks (indicated by B B B in Fig. 23) being prepared for the subsequent years in the same manner as the disk 13 for the year 1899, so that at the end of any year the top disk may be torn off or otherwise removed and the disk for the new year ready for use, and if for the purpose of any future calculation a subsequent year is to be considered the disks containing the described arrangement for the previous year or years may be simply lifted up and the disk for the future year readily adjusted, as described. It the agents books are to be examined at any other date than that of the first Monday in the year, then the appropriate date (as the number 3 in the July group for an examination on July 3, 1899) is placed in line with the character 0 in the inner annular row on the disk A and the examination proceeded with just as before-that is to say, when the device is thus arranged to ascertain arrears and advances on July 3, 1899, if the first policy on the agents book is marked paid to and including July 31, 1899, then a glance at the device shows that there are four weeks advance premiums paid, and if the next policy is marked on the book paid to June 12,1899, then the device shows that said policy is three weeks in arrears, and so on, a fragment of the device adjusted for examination on July 3, 1899, being illustrated in Fig. 2.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure to Letters Patent, is

A device for aiding in the rapid calculation of periods of time, comprisingaseries of disks, the upper disk being circular and of less diameter than the lower disk, to which itis revolubly secured by a central pivot,and having an annular series of fifty-two numbers, arranged just within its outer circumferential line, said numbers corresponding to the consecutive monthly dates of any particular week-day from January to December inclusive of any year, said numbers being separated by equidistant radial lines, and the exposed surface of the lower diskhaving an equal number of radial division-lines, and two annular series of consecutive numbers, the inner circle of numbers extending from the character 0 to the number 51 and the outer circle of numbers extending around in an opposite direction from that of the inner circle, and beginning with number 1, the sum of any two numbers in the same radial space of the lower disk always equaling fifty-two.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at Duluth, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota, in the presence of two witnesses.

LYDIA K. S URM.

\Vitnesses:

WM. McMnLLnx, L. CAMP. 

